Monday, April 7, 2014

giving old etegami new life

A few years ago, I painted this etegami-- depicting a butterfly fresh out of its chrysalis, still moist and a little crumpled-- on an A5-sized (about 8 x 6 inches) card to illustrate the expression "okagesama de." You can find the original post here to learn about the important role this expression has in Japanese life.

Today I decided to give the card new life as an Easter card, accompanied by English words. With careful cutting, I was able to reduce the card to 4 x 6 inches and remove the original Japanese words completely from the scene. There was enough empty space left to add the English words I had picked out. And here it is, a new etegami from the old, serving a completely different purpose from the original.

I actually do this a lot with old etegami that I've painted for some kind of art challenge rather than for immediate mailing. Especially when, like now, my eyes are too strained to paint new images. I think I like the proportions of this new version better too.

A Beginner's Guide to Etegami

what is etegami?

Etegami (e= "picture"; tegami= "letter/message") are simple drawings accompanied by a few apt words. They are usually done on postcards so that they can be easily mailed off to one's friends. Though etegami has few hard-and-fast rules, traditional tools and materials include writing brushes, sumi ink, blocks of water-soluble, mineral-based pigments called gansai, and washi postcards that have varying degrees of "bleed." They often depict some ordinary item from everyday life, especially items that bring a particular season to mind.